Curated OER
Holidays Around The World
Second graders investigate the different holidays that are celebrated in cultures around the world. They identify the different symbols used in celebration and differentiate the interpretation. Students demonstrate in writing how the...
Curated OER
Six Trait Writing with Jack Prelutsky and the Brothers Grimm
Students identify and discuss six traits of writing and complete some beginning drawing and writing utilizing the traits. Six lessons on one page.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: African American Protest Poetry
Learn about African American protest poetry and what was motivating it. This article takes a look at protest poetry during slavery, during the period of segregation and Jim Crow, and after political obstacles to equality were removed....
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Poetry, Making of African American Identity: V. 3
This study of black protest poems from the early part of the twentieth century through the late sixties can provide insight into the issues African Americans faced during that time and the ways they responded to them. Works from seven...
National Gallery of Art
National Gallery of Art: The First African American Regiment
Students will be introduced to the first African American Regiment that fought in the Civil War through a memorial sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. They will compare and contrast the experiences of these soldiers through their...
Poetry Foundation
Poetry Foundation: Dream in Color: Resource Guide for Elem School Teachers [Pdf]
Explore a wealth of poems, lesson plans, and classroom activities to help elementary school students discover the diversity in African-American poets and create their own voice in poetry. PDF (requires Adobe Reader).
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Popular Culture, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
A sculpture, poster, poem, and a painting that challenge black stereotypes in the early-twentieth century. Links to these precursors to the Harlem Renaissance are provided at the top of the page.
University at Buffalo
Phat African American Poetry Book: Arna Bontemps
Three of Arna Bontemps' more famous poems are printed here.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Anne Spencer
In-depth site on Anne Spencer including an extensive biography of this famous Harlem Renaissance poet. Detailed information on her works, education, and contemporaries. Numerous photographs. Some of her poems are also included.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Two Views, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
Two poems that explore the struggles of African Americans in the early-twentieth century. Links to both poems by Fenton Johnson are provided, and illustrate the struggles experienced as black man in white America in the 1910s
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Self Image, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
An editorial and four poems that explore African American strivings for self-esteem in the late-nineteenth century. All documents referenced within this resource attempt to shine a light on African American self-image and identity.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: 1913: Fifty Years, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
A poem, an address, and a blues song that express black life in the first fifty years after the Emancipation Proclamation. The texts examine whether the true meaning of the proclamation carried forward to the lives African Americans.
ReadWriteThink
Read Write Think: Discovering a Passion for Poetry W/ Langston Hughes
After analyzing examples of contemporary youth poetry as well as the poetry of Langston Hughes, students will use the Internet to conduct research on how events in the world have shaped Hughes' work. They will cite specific examples that...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Spirit of Nationalism: Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley, an African-American slave, is featured for her neoclassical poetry of pre-nineteenth century America. Click on "Phillis Wheatley Activities" for more resources.
Poetry Foundation
Poetry Foundation: Gwendolyn Brooks (1917 2000)
A biography of Gwedolyn Brooks, the first African American woman author to win the Pulitzer prize. With career information and links to many of her poems, some with audio. Listen to podcasts about her work and read articles about the...
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Langston Hughes: Hughes's Life and Career
Lengthy, detailed biography of Harlem Renaissance poet, Langston Hughes, from the Oxford Companion to African American Literature.
Poetry Foundation
Poetry Foundation: Dream in Color: Teacher Resources Glossary, Credits [Pdf]
This website contains a glossary with definitions of poetic terms and a bibliography of additional African-American poets and books and recommended reading.
University at Buffalo
University at Buffalo: Helene Johnson Poetry
This site, which is provided for by the University at Buffalo, gives the text of three of the poems of this famous Harlem Renaissance author.
Poetry Foundation
Poetry Foundation: Dream in Color: A Guide for Middle School Teachers [Pdf]
Visit this resource to find a wealth of poems, lesson plans, and classroom activities to help middle school students discover the diversity in African American poets and create their own voice in poetry. This resource is in PDF form.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Rhythms in Poetry: Claude Mc Kay
This is a succinct biography of Claude McKay, infamous Harlem Renaissance poet who expressed the need for the African American community in America to speak out against racism. See "Claude McKay Activities" for related materials.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Rita Dove
This site focuses on Dove's poem "Parsley". It contains several interviews and articles about Dove and "Parsley". The text of the poem is not, however, available on this page.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872 1906)
This excellent site provides a biography, critical commentary on several poems, examples of Dunbar's illustrated work, images and the text of several poems.
University of Illinois
University of Illinois: Modern American Poetry: Claude Mc Kay
A biography and analysis of the life of the famous author, as well as literary criticism as well as online poems, letters and a bibliography. Includes many quotes and his poetry.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Race Problem, Making of African American Identity: V. 2
A poem, an address, and a painting that illustrate black political struggle in late-nineteenth-century America. This series of resources characterize "the Negro Problem" as "a concrete test of the underlying principles of the great...